CounterCultureHQ

I’m listening to music as a write this. It’s a groovy track by Peter Ibbetson called “Wednesday.” Like most songs it’s got momentum to it, with an occasional break to let the listener catch their breath. It starts sparse, building a backbone, and adds instruments, takes them away, and then brings them all back at once as it closes in on the end, only to strip them away again as it pulls into the finish.

It has a pulse, a rhythm.
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The Interwebs are alive with tons of articles about the power of routines and habits. I think that’s for two reasons – well, there’s probably way more than two reasons, but two is a good number to start with. First, because they work. Doing the same things every day builds a lot of momentum. Second, it makes for great blog fodder. There’s even an entire website devoted solely to morning routines: My Morning Routine. It’s a fascinating website. They even have a book. There are lots of things that you can put into a routine that will help you do life better: ¹exercise, eating right, taking a shower once in a while.

I want to share with you some specific routines that will help you stay connected and aligned with the Kingdom of God.
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This is the session you’ve probably been waiting for: the habits you can build into your life that will help you stay aligned with the values of the Kingdom of God. I’ve resisted jumping straight into this for a couple of reasons. First, Western culture likes to make checklists, and Checklists for Life™ are burdensome. It’s so easy to make it about the checklist instead of the thing the checklist is meant to support: your life with God. Second, your life season and rhythms will color your habits and routines. There isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach to this, and your specific habits and routines will rarely stay them same as your seasons change. With that said, it’s helpful to have a starting place, which is all this session is: a starting place.

Anyhow, let’s get into it.
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I’ve always found light fascinating. Did you know it’s all electromagnetic radiation? Our eyes are actually finely tuned Geiger counters, and the more radiation we encounter the brighter the light is. And each color we see is just a specific frequency of the electromagnetic spectrum we call “light.” As the frequency changes, the color changes – from red at the lowest frequency to violet at the highest.

But you aren’t here for a physics lesson, are you?
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We’re all familiar with the idea of seasons: Spring, Summer, Fall¹, and Winter. The seasons cycle around and repeat every year. Now, life doesn’t repeat every year, but it does mimic the cycle of birth, life, decline and end. Also, unlike the normal kind of calendar seasons we’re used to, the circumstances around each season of life are different.

Let me explain.
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New parents often complain about the monotony of taking care of a newborn. Every day is basically the same, and the days all blur into each other. They have no idea if it’s Monday or Friday. It’s just an endless series of repeating tasks.

It can be depressing.
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We live in the most ludicrously wealthy country in the history of the world. We have more choice than humans have every been presented with – even the most minute decision is met with a billion options. Cereal? Here, you have 150 options. Milk to go with your cereal? Sure! Pick from Whole, 2%, Organic Skim, Chocolate, Soy, Almond, Coconut, Coconut Vanilla, Almond Vanilla, Unsweetened Soy Vanilla, or any combination of the above. Oh, want a bowl? Here’s sixty more options. And a spoon? Another twenty.

I think you get the idea. Read More

Look, I’m not the foremost authority on the power of habits or even creating habits. That title belongs to Charles Duhigg’s book The Power of Habit¹². What I do know is this: habits have completely changed my life. They’ve helped me build into my life the things that I know I need to do but would never do if left on my own.

I’d like to give you the very CliffsNotes version.
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Every time I go on a road trip I make sure to get the wheels aligned on my car. If I don’t, then I know I’ll be fighting my steering wheel for 900 miles and it’s just not fun. (fn) I’m either going to be pulled to the side the entire trip or my steering wheel is going to vibrate like mad.

Unsurprisingly, life is the same way.¹
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For the last six weeks we’ve been talking about two competing ways of life: the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Man. We’re going to wrap things up here on this topic for the time being, so I thought it would be good to recap things – a kind of cheat sheet if you will – that you can refer back to. It’s like an instrument check.

I think it’ll be helpful to sum things up as four battles. Read More